Steviewevie

Sorry if I'm already asking a question that's been addressed elsewhere in the thread (although I did have a look and couldn't find it). But is this a custom-built turbo (i.e. the turbocharger itself) ? If so, why as opposed to an off-the-shelf one ? Just curious, not trying to say there's anything wrong with that.

They were perfectly fine with me asking them to do a non-standard service, changing some specific things and leaving others that I've already done, and also fine with me supplying parts. Make sure you tell them you're a LOC Gold member, they give a parts discount.

So have we got enough people yet to get a stand ? If not, how many more do we need ?

I didn't say it was a stupid question though ? I'm sure it does work with some manufacturers. I already said that some of the brakes are interchangeable on Toyota/Lexus, i.e. IS200/300/Altezza/GSMk1. All I said was I don't think the seats would be, directly. No idea how easy it would be to fiddle around and make something else fit.

989,487

My car needs a service and I'm taking it to JEM soon, although I'm supplying the parts (filter and oils).

Any news on the turbo ?

I don't think there's much chance of most things fitting. Altezza to IS is generally ok. GS Mark I uses the same brakes as the IS/Altezza. But I'd be pretty suprised if things like seats etc fitted. Of course with brakes you could always take the caliper and then make up some new brackets to mount it.

Put me down for this too please ! :D

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but are you sure it's just not pushed in far enough ?

There's a guide here as to which equipment came as standard on which RS200 models (e.g. Z edition), I don't know if that might help.

There's a guide on how to post up pics here. Imageshack is used in that example but you can use any photo hosting website, personally I use Photobucket. You basically just want to copy and page the code surrounded by "IMG" tags.

Seats/rails/brakes from what ? From an SC to an IS ?

If you haven't done so already, check out this article in the Knowledge Base on what to look for, some useful tips in there.

Why do you need to get into the BIOS in order to restore the hard drive ? Is it to make it boot from CD ? Just wondering if there's another way round this, as jomo has suggested.

The car should have some service history really. As others have said, you should use this to your advantage and you should be able to get the car for an even better price than because of this. If you're in any doubt whatsoever though, just walk away, there are loads of IS200s on the market and you will find plenty more. You need a good reason to buy one that's got something "wrong" with it (e.g. lack of history). A very good price could be that reason. You may be able to find out service history if you can find out where it was serviced, e.g. if you find out who owned it, whereabouts they lived and perhaps see if Lexus/Toyota have any records for it. Then again, you might draw a blank. Bear in mind that the cam belt might not have been changed, the previous owner might have been going on the original interval of 100,000 miles for this. But it should have been changed at 60,000 miles. It's easy to take off the cover and have a peek at the belt though - again, another possible negotiating tool.

I don't know too much about these armrests, but to me, as it says "complete assembly with the hinge and bracket" (my emphasis), then I would expect it to come with the mounting hinge that you say is missing. It doesn't say it comes with "a" hinge (e.g. I don't know if there's already some sort of hinge built in to it), but it mentions "the" hinge as if that's a significant part. I think you're on shaky ground with the cubbyhole though, it doesn't mention that in the listing or in the picture. If the mounting hinge/bracket is a significant part then I think it's wrong that it's missing.

The 4th gen is described as "MP62" on this site and looks different. The 3rd gen looks more like it, maybe it's that one ? From Googling, I found a car from 1994 with an M62 gen 3, so it looks like it was around at the right sort of time. Edit - Stav just beat me to it

Who's a clever Mole then ? Well done ! :D

Yeah but it'll be a Vauxhall, not a Lexus ! :(

Noooooooooooooooooooooo !

I had my MoT test with my HIDs in. HIDs are fine for UK MoT, it's just the beam pattern/aim that is tested, so mine obviously tested ok. However, passing the MoT doesn't prevent the police from stopping you and seeing if your car is roadworthy if they suspect otherwise. In *theory* aftermarket HIDs like the ones typically retrofitted to the IS200 are illegal, but I don't think this has been tested in practice. As long as you haven't got very blue/purple HIDs (e.g. 10,000K) then I think you'll be ok if the police stop you. A similar example is if you've removed all your cats. You won't be able to pass the emissions section of the MoT test like this, so some people will insert a cat just for the MoT, then take it out again. However, if for some reason you get stopped by the police for a roadside emissions test, and you fail it because you've got no cat, you're going to be in trouble - but you'd be in trouble for failing this test, it effectively doesn't really matter that you've swapped your cars setup from the time it was MoT'd.

Where's his bonnet gone ?

Congratulations Dave, methinks you need to update your signature ! :winky: :D

Putting 245/45R18s on to replace 225/45R17s will result in your speedo being approx 6% out compared to before. The tyres that are currently on those wheels sound a much better size, if they're 225/40R18 as you mention, that would be less than 1% different in terms of the speedo.